Brie cheese is typically aged for a minimum of 8 weeks but can be extended slightly when coming to the United States (Fromage, 2015). This is because the “U.S. Food and Drug Administration requires all cheese sold into interstate commerce to be made from pasteurized milk or to be aged for 60 days if made from raw milk” (Fulton, 2014).
The packaging of cheese during the storage and aging phase of production is of the utmost importance. This is because different films protect the cheese better than others. According to a plastic film market analysis done on cheese by Mastio & Company, the cheese film market is growing at a considerable rate. For that reason, competitors don’t want to get left behind and fall out of this rich market entirely. In order to ensure their place, companies have begun using polyethylene films instead of the polyvinylidene chloride films that were previously used for natural cheeses, like brie, that need to continue to age during storage. The Mastio study points out, “PVDC films have higher hot fill capabilities than PE films and provide good gas barriers. However…PVDC resins are often more costly than PE resins” (Callari, 2015). This means that the PVDC films work better in storage because they control the release of gases better than the PE films. This is of extreme importance in the storage phase because the cheese has to age for at least 60 days before the next phase, and if the cheese ages too quickly on the shelf it may not be able to be sold. However, the market has shown that companies put a higher priority on making the most profit possible and challenging competition because as of “2014, there was no reported usage of this (PVDC) material” (Callari, 2015).